Tom RC
by RipBudAce
Summary: Why do horcrux makers only make one?


**Tom R.C.**

The massed army pounded the Hogwarts wards. Soon they would collapse and the magical world would finally belong to Lord Voldemort, when he saw the small figure walking out of the castle.

"HOLD!" he ordered his troops. "It looks like we're going to have a visitor." He peered through the rapidly clearing wards. "Potter might not be quite the coward we thought. Bella, to my right side, Fenrir, come to my left. And remember, nobody is to touch Potter. He is mine!" Voldemort then grabbed Bella's arm and, pushing the Elder Wand to her Dark Mark, sent a spell through it to all of his Death Eaters. He then sent a spell over his other followers. The army quieted until all that could be heard was the breeze flowing through the grass.

The figure trudged down the path, resolving itself to be the Boy-Who-Loved. Around his neck hung a chain which had a three inch runic stone pendant on it.

He walked directly before Lord Voldemort, who was smiling as though all of his dreams had come true. Harry nodded his head. "Tom," he said. "Sorry I was late. There were a few things I needed to take care of first. So, shall we proceed?"

Tom snorted, the said, "Harry Potter. You have been a thorn in my side for far too long. The so-called 'boy-who-lived' will now become the next death in my quest for my rightful place."

"Oh Tom," replied Harry with quiet convention. "Yes, you will be receiving your 'rightful place.' Before that, however..." Harry took out his wand and cast _Sonorous_. "Would anyone here care to surrender now? Your willingness to repent will be taken into consideration when your trial is held, as well as those unwilling. Only those who feel true repentance will be allowed through the wards. _Quietus_."

A few seconds went by. Then just as Tom was about to laugh, a single figure, a teenage girl, walked towards Harry and through the wards.

Fenrir snarled. "So, one of my own pack deserted us right before the final showdown! I will rend your body but keep you alive to pleasure me and the rest of the pack!"

Harry felt the girl shivering next to him. He turned to her. "Please, go to the castle. They will take care of you there." She sniffed and walked down the path.

Harry turned back to Tom. "I had hoped we would have more. Unfortunately, I guess that isn't the case."

Tom fiddled with his wand and smiled at Harry. "So Potter, are you ready to bow down before your death?"

Harry chuckled, a sound that caused Tom to flinch. "Not quite yet. We do have a few things to discuss first, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead Potter. I have all the time in the world, unlike you."

Harry licked his finger and drew a line in the air, showing that Tom had won a point. "Well Tom, I have a few questions about the Dark Mark. We already know that to earn one, the wizard has to have committed a murder of an innocent, correct? And it has to be done in your presence."

Tom frowned. "Yes, that's true."

"Good. And this gives you an opening into their very soul, one which the Dark Mark keeps open. This allows you to bypass any protective measures they may take to keep you out. You are able to torture them or cast any spell on them at any time, correct?"

"Yes. They can never betray me. Even that supposed spy Snape was under my control the entire time."

"Good, good," Harry smiled. "In that case, I want you to cast the _Imperio_ through Bella's Dark Mark against all of your Death Eaters. Make them capture the rest of your forces that you have not marked."

"Now Potter, why on earth would I..." Tom started to saay, when he found himself graabbing Bella's arm and sending out the _Imperio_. "POTTER! what have you done to me?"

Soon, the entirety of the Death Eaters were stunning or otherwise incapacitating the rest of the army, who were still reeling under the calming charm that Tom had cast earlier.

Harry looked around at everyone. When the final giant was eventually stunned, he turned back to Tom.

"Now as I have ordered before, you are to hurt no one and you are to let none of your followers kill any of your non-followers. First off, please hold all questions and comments until later. You are now to send your most powerful stunner through Bella to all of your Death Eaters here. Any of your Death Eaters who are not here are to turn themselves into the nearest auror. After you are done, we will head on up to the castle. Chop chop!"

Tom found himself following his instructions before heading to the castle with Harry. He tried asking questions, but his body refused to do so. He knew he wasn't under the _Imperio_ curse, but could not figure out the hold that Potter had on him.

Harry led Tom to the Room of Requirement, which was already open. Inside was a table and two chairs in front of a bookcase. On the table was a stone tablet. Tom was horrified to see that, on the shelf were his horcruxes, all except for Nagini. They all appeared to be in pristine condition.

Harry sat in one of the chairs and motioned for Tom to take the other. Tom sat down, mind still reeling from seeing that his secrets were known.

"So Tom," Harry started. "I guess you're wondering why I brought you here. I do see that you know your trinkets have been found. Have we missed any of your horcruxes?"

Tom tried to reply no, but found himself whispering, "Nagini."

Harry smiled softly. "No. Nagini was taken care of on our way up here. No, there was one other that you seemed to have missed." He lifted his hair to show his much faded scar. "A piece of your soul had latched onto me as well."

Harry stood and walked to the bookcase. He picked up the ruined diary and brought it back to the table. Tom stared at it.

"This one," Harry said, looking at the destroyed book, "was the one that started us looking for more horcruxes. And if Lucius hadn't given it to Ginny Weasley, and if her big brother hadn't been home when she was taken to the chamber, we might never have known what it was. He was there when we brought her back up from the chamber. He recognized it for what it was, since he is a cursebreaker working for Gringotts in Egypt. He cast a specific detection spell on it and found not only that it had contained a piece of your soul, but that my scar did as well."

He sat back and looked at Tom. "Because he saw the soul fragment in my scar, he knew that there must be more of them out in the world. Fortunately, Gringotts makes sure that their employees have all of the information they need to do their job. He knew of a spell to safely remove the soul fragment from whatever container it was in, how to trap the soul fragment, and..."

He paused, looking toward the tablet before turning back to Tom. "Do you know why the monsters who create horcruxes only make one? It's because of the soul splitting that occurs. There's a llot of talk about the soul being ripped in half, but it's not quite like that. It's more of a 60/40 cut. You retain 60 percent of your soul, and the container gets the remaining 40 percent. This is important because if someone gets control over more of your soul than you have left, they can use it to control you."

Harry once again looked at the tablet. "Other than Nagini and the diary, all of your soul fragments are now tied up in this tablet. By our calcuations, we have around 50 percent of your soul powering this. You, on the other hand, have less than 5 percent of your soul left."

Harry sighed and clasped his hands in his lap. "A lot of important people discussed what will be your fate. We could destroy the tablet and then kill you. We could toss you both through the Veil of Death. However, since you cannot die as long as the tablet exists, and since you cannot hurt anyone as long as it controls you, it has been decided that you will work henceforth in the Department of Mysteries, where you will work on finding ways to stop dangerous curses, starting with the unforgivables. You will never leave there and one day, after centuries have passed and your name is forgotten to the outside world, not even a footnote in the history books, and your crimes have all been paid for and you reach true repentance, then, and only then, will your debt be repaid and you can finally rest in death."

Two aurors and an Unspeakable came in, the former putting Tom in manacles while the latter picked up the tablet. As they left, Tom heard Harry softly whisper, "And may God have mercy upon your soul."

– **FIN –**

A/N – Just a little thing I thought about – why would people who make a horcrux not make multiples. It turns out that, even with the 60/40 percent that I made here, if a second one was made the first one would have more soul energy than the creator. Each time a new one was made, the remaining soul in the maker would be less than the second-to-last horcrux.

Running the 60/40 in a spreadsheet left Tom with 2.8% soul and the remaining horcruxes (minus the diary which was still destroyed) with 55.3%. Even with two horcruxes (the diary and whatever was second) left Tom with 36% and the sum of the horcruxes (at 40% and 24%) with 64%. He lost too much each time he created a new one.


End file.
